The National Park Service offers free entrance to all National Parks a few times each year. This is a great way to explore our beautiful Colorado park lands.

The National Parks free days are valid at all National Parks that charge an entrance fee. For Denver and the Front Range, the nearest parks are Rocky Mountain National Park and Florissant Fossil Beds, although there are several others if you can travel a bit farther.

Some of the more distant Colorado parks (in order of my favorites) are Mesa Verde, Great Sand Dunes, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, as well as Arches / Canyonlands in Utah. A trip to a National Park is one of the best things to do in Colorado, and free entrance makes it an excellent deal as well.

Free days are announced by the park service to celebrate special events such as MLK weekend, National Parks Week, the first day of summer, Public Lands Day, and Veterans Day Weekend.

Many of you remember what life was like before "Fee Demo", the National Park Service's test of imposing expensive fees on park entrance, which have since become permanent. Many of us no longer visit the National Parks because of these fees. This is a good chance to get outdoors and explore areas that we normally cannot.